Jimmy green vs. Jimmy white
One major discovery from 2011 was the surprising positive effect of green backgrounds in the banner. Just a couple weeks before the launch of the fundraiser, we tested a banner with Jimmy in front of a white background (that we found to be the best from 2010 testing) against Jimmy in front of a green leafy background. The green background banner came out far ahead with a 64% increase over the white background for click rate, and a 76% increase for amount.
This was a fun and unexpected test that also serves as a great reminder to question and retest our assumptions of what performs the best.
Please see the full test report: Media:jimmywhitevsgreen.png